I've started this blog as an open forum to discuss current topics in the news in a "Point - Counter Point" manner. By using this method of debate, I seek to encourage all to lend their voices and opinions by weighing in on the current days topics up for discussion. Welcome to POINT - COUNTER POINT.

A very impressive amount of new footage was shown from Season 2 of V today at New York Comic Con – rather than simply show us a montage, or even a scene or two, we were treated to several long sequences from the new season.

The first sequence showed New York appearing in a chillingly quiet state, with cars all stopped and people all laying on the ground, motionless. Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell) wakes up, the only person to stir among the populace. She begins yelling out for her son, Tyler (Logan Huffman), only to see him from behind, sitting on a bench. When she approaches him and touches his shoulder, he collapses into her arms, asking, "Mom, is that you? What did you do, Mom?" Suddenly Tyler's skin reddens and begins to peel and melt and he dies in her arms. Erica begins to cry, only to look up and see Anna (Morena Baccarin) standing before her. Says Anna, "You killed my children, so I killed yours." Erica then awakens, confirming this was all a dream. She walks out into her FBI offices, where she fell asleep. Her boss, Paul Kendrick (Roark Critchlow) , asks, "Didn't I send you home?" Erica waves him off, asking if anyone has been able to contact Anna, who has remained silent since the Red Sky began. Says Sarita Malik (Rekha Sharma), "There's still no proof the visitors are behind this."

We then see Marcus (Christopher Shyer) speaking with Anna in the mothership. When Anna dismisses his concern over her not speaking to the humans or the scientists who have been analyzing the situation, he tells her, "They can reach an answer on their own," and that one particular scientist concerns him because his, "work is reaching dangerous proximity to the truth." Marcus also warns her that the captains of the other ships were caught off guard by Anna's actions with the Red Sky and "are concerned that you yourself have been affected by human emotion." Marcus tells Anna the captains are all coming to meet with her.

The captains are all assembled and Anna speaks to them, noting, "I understand there are questions among you about the release of Red Sky." She assures them that it was all part of a plan, and adds, "No one – human or visitor – can comprehend the magnitude of what is coming." She promises she has everything under control and adds she is, "So appreciative of your trust and loyalty." This is when she approaches one of the captains. We see Anna from behind and her back begins to ripple… and that's when we see her whip out her tail for the first time! Her tail begins to slash the one captain's face, until he is knocked to the ground. She then keeps slashing and puncturing with it (below frame), while blood splatters her face. She then reaches down and pulls the captain up, but now his human face is completely split open, showing his lizard face beneath. "Never forget what we are," Anna says, before using her tail to puncture him completely through, killing him. Marcus smiles.

The next scene showed Erica arriving home. She hears a noise at the door and opens it and Lisa (Laura Vandervoot) is there. Lisa looks upset and despondent, and Erica asks her what's wrong. "I'm not like you. I'm a visitor," says Lisa. She tells Erica that Anna is trying to change her and she has no one to talk to. Erica tells her she can talk to her and hugs Lisa, who begins crying.

Morena Baccarin and Jane Badler on the set of V

Then we got the Big Scene for all old school V fans. Anna walks into a jungle-like environment, and we see a web-like, rope cocoon. Hands slowly reach out from inside pushing the ropes open, and out comes… Diana (Jane Badler)! Yes, the audience went wild for the original V star, as Anna coldly said, "Hello, mother."

The follow up to this scene shows Diana asking Anna why she's come to her, noting she hadn't seen her in 15 years – "Not since you put me down here." Anna tells Diana, "I had no choice. Your human skin was infecting you with emotion – weakening you," insisting she did it to 'protect my species." Diana then tells Anna, "I never thought it would take so long for you to admit that you felt human emotion." Anna insists she's been working harder than ever to stop their people from ever feeling human emotions, but still haven't been able to stop it. Diana reveals that she came to earth decades before, hiding among the humans, "To see if interbreeding were possible," only to realize they could not stop those children from being infected with human emotions. After Anna reveals Lisa has "entered her cycle of fertility," Diana notes Anna is infertile, but that she shouldn't keep Lisa on Earth if she is to breed. Says Anna, "I will make it work. it's Earth, or nothing."

Another scene shows Jack (Joel Gretsch) meeting with Chad (Scott Wolf) in the church. Chad feels awful about what is happening to Jack and suggests, "Maybe I can put out another piece and tell them the truth about Anna." Jack tells Chad, "They've already seen what they want to see," and that he will "weather the storm." Chad tells Jack, "You're a brave man, father," to which Jack replies, "Stay close to Anna. That's your role." He adds, "The Fifth Column holds strong as long as we have men like you fighting with us. It's time for you to meet the others."

The final scene we saw had Jack bringing Chad to Hobbes (Charles Mesure), Ryan (Morris Chestnut) and Erica (Elizabeth Mitchell). Chad is amused to see Erica, asking, "How's the Fifth Column task force," and she relies that is, "my day job." Says Hobbes, "I don't like this. He's burned us before." Chad tells him, "You're right. I'm here to make amends. Use me. Use my position with Anna." Ryan grimly notes, "Anna only tells you what she wants you to know. You have no idea what she's capable of." Says Erica, "You sure you're ready for this?"

During the panel that followed, executive producer Steve Pearlman was joined by Morena Baccarin, Laura Vandervoort, and Jane Badler. Pearlman said, "The release of the red sky gave us a whole launching pad for the next season," noting, "We had the opportunity to map out the entire season this year, which we didn't have the opportunity to last season." He also promised more to come with Valerie's baby, and quite a "puberty story" for Lisa.

A funny moment occurred when a fan apologized for her poor English, noting she was French and then added, 'The resistance kind of sucks, I think." Pearlman admitted, "four people a resistance does not make," but added, "That is something our little ragtag group realizes pretty early in the season." He said Season 2 will include "the globalization of the Fifth Column. That's where Oded Fehr's character comes into play. We'll go to several international locations and meet several Fifth Column cells around the world."

Badler said she was playing, "A very different Diana," than the one from the original. She described her as, "Older and wiser. She has more restraint." She said that should Diana get free from Anna's clutches, she certainly would have plans, noting, "The driving factor behind the queen is power and control of our race."

Now that Anna's felt her first human emotions, might she find herself loving a person? After joking, "Clearly, she's in love with Chad Decker," Baccarin said, I think that would be the next, interesting thing, is for Anna to fall in love. To feel a human, emotional connection to a human being – whether it be to a male or a child. To feel that sort of emotion. We'll see!"

Vandervoort said Lisa is "starting to figure out what she wants. What side she's on. It's a very mature Lisa this season." She also described a scene she had recently shot where something dramatic has happened to Lisa. "I wake up and don't know how to feel about it." Vandervoort then turned to Baccarin and laughed, "And you're sitting in a corner like a creepster!"

Pearlman promised that, starting with Anna's tail, more and more of what is truly underneath the Vs human skin will be revealed in Season 2, "And it's not going to be what you think it is." When he was asked if we should believe that every male and female V is actually the gender they appear to be, he replied, "We're going to learn something in the sixth or seventh episode of the season that has to do with gender."

So, will V finally do their version of the famous rat-eating moment made famous by Badler in the original? Said Baccarin, "Let's just say I had a really unpleasant day at work the other day." Said Pearlman, "We did have a rat on set one day. Morena came up to me and said, 'I was told it was going to be a mouse.'"

From New York Comic Con, Lee has announced that he's launching the new comic,"Stan Lee's 7," in which seven Earth-stranded aliens are befriended by their new leader, who turns out to be none other than...Stan Lee.

Lee says this comic book will feature real people in a setting of superheroes. The comic, which will have Web and TV components, is set to begin early next year as the first project from Stan Lee Comics.

At NYCC, Lee is also announcing that he and his company POW! Entertainment are working with MTV to launch a new digital-comic superhero series, "The Seekers."

Stan Lee and MTV will conduct a talent contest for an "undiscovered" writer and/or illustrator to join the "Seekers" creative team. (Lee, of course, was a judge this year for The Post's "America's Next Great Cartoonist" Contest.)

Viewers will be able to find the free comic series on the new MTV Geek website that launched this week.